


Academy Stuck

by stendahls



Category: Homestuck, The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Biiiiig spoilers for the end of TUA, Crossover, Gen, Human AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 12:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18965419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stendahls/pseuds/stendahls
Summary: Five leads his siblings home after their jump at the theatre, but there's a stranger in their house claiming that he already lives there. It would seem Five managed to jump them even farther than he thought possible.





	Academy Stuck

**Author's Note:**

> Eventually all of the Homestuck trolls will show up, they all have a place, so no fear of your favorite being left out :o) This is also a human AU, so hopefully it can be enjoyed even by people who haven't read Homestuck? I hope lol

The last thing Number Five saw before the jump was a large, fiery chunk of the moon, only several yards away from making contact with the already frail walls of the performance hall.

The first thing he saw after the jump was the exact same performance hall, empty and in tact. 

He was laying on his back, his shoulders digging into the hardwood floor. His head felt like it was imploding. He wasn’t sure if he had ever felt such a terrible physical pain, and he kept quickly weaving in and out of consciousness due to the immensity of it. Eventually the pain slowed down, and after what seemed like hours, he returned to consciousness for good. When he opened his eyes he saw Diego leaning over him. Against his brothers insistence, Five slowly sat upright and tried to speak. He only got out a single syllable before his head was overwhelmed with pain again. He decided to settle for quietly surveying the scene around him as he waited for the pain to dull further.

Diego was sitting next to him, as was Luther, and they were both worriedly having an intense discussion over what to do about his current condition. The word “hospital” was tossed around a lot, but they stopped when Five fervently shook his head, much to his regret. Klaus was in some kind of heated argument with a space of empty air that he could only assume was Ben. Vanya laid unconscious near the edge of the stage, where Allison watched over her, lost in thought.

It seemed like things had turned out alright. Saying that to himself felt wrong, but he couldn’t explain why. Something was off, he knew it, and it was making his skin crawl, yet he couldn’t see anything out of place. He pushed the thought from his mind, for right now he was just thankful that they had survived. They had all survived, right? He attempted to stand up to see, but was quickly pushed back down by Luther, who kept repeating some nonsense about rest and self care. It was bullshit that he didn’t have time for, and he tried to indicate as such, but neither of younger men at his side would listen to him. After another minute of steadying himself, he finally croaked out a few words. “Is Vanya okay?” Every syllable made his head pound. He hadn’t been in this much pain since he got shot in the side, and this greatly outweighed that. Even so, he would push forward. There was nothing else to do. He had survived years of combat and turmoil, he wasn’t about to let a glorified headache keep him down. He stood up, shoving away his brothers as they tried to stop him. It took him a minute to gain his balance as he wobbled over to where his sisters were.

Allison looked at him and nodded. She had a vacant look in her eyes, one that Five hadn’t seen since they were children. He had almost forgotten it existed. It was the same look she got when she saw Reginald punishing her siblings, a hollowed out sadness, like her own empathy had filled her up so much it pushed her right out of her own body. She was holding Vanya’s hand. He had no idea how Allison could forgive her so quickly, how she could comfortably stay so close to someone who had attempted to kill her only a day before, but Allison’s empathy had always been her best quality. When she could push past her own narcissism and truly love someone, she gave them her everything. Five’s heart felt crushed under the sheer weight of the love he felt in that moment for those around him. In front of him were Allison and Vanya, together after everything, waiting upon forgiveness. Behind him were Diego and Luther, brought together by a mutual love for those around them, still letting that love show despite their bitter differences. To his side, Klaus and Ben, one of them still so lively after all he had overcome, and one of them still so lively despite being literally dead. His family was all around him, and he was thankful.

For once he decided to actually let it show, “I’m glad everyone’s okay,” he said, looking at Allison, but saying it loudly enough that everyone else knew it applied to them. She started to tear up as she nodded her head in agreement. He leaned down next to her, looking over Vanya as he did. She was back to her original appearance, still pale but filled with color, and she was breathing softly as she rested. As thankful as he was to know she was okay, he felt fear knot in his stomach as he looked at her. He had no idea what would happen when she woke up. The chance that she would cry and hug them, completely fine, was equally as likely as the chance that she would shred them all into a billion pieces, still filled with a world ending rage. The thought flashed into his head that they probably would have been better off if they had killed her, but he forcefully crushed that idea and threw it to the side. This was his family. He couldn’t take the easy route anymore. He had to do what was best for them, all of them, no matter how complicated that may have been. He turned and made his way back to his brothers, and gave a slight nod of greeting as Klaus followed him to the group.

“Is the car still outside?” Five asked, gritting his teeth afterward at the pain it sent searing through his head.

Everyone shared a confused glance, “I don’t know,” Diego said, with a look of slight embarrassment. At least his shame meant that Five wouldn’t have to yell at him for his stupidity. He stood up from where he was sitting next to Luther and made his way off the stage, yelling a short “I’ll check,” over his shoulder as he went.

Luther stood up as well, perhaps guided by his incessant need to not be left behind by his brother, but stopped himself as he began to follow. Instead, he turned to Five and voiced his concerns. His many, many concerns. “What time are we in? Do you know exactly where we went?” he sighed and looked around, giving his other siblings no time to reply as he rambled, “I mean, the theatre’s fine, but what if we’re like, 40 years in the past? What will we do then? Oh, and what about Vanya?” He moved to walk over to her, but Klaus blocked his path. They both tensed at the action. 

Klaus held his hands out to placate Luther’s already growing frustration and confusion, “Why don’t we take a few deep breaths and just be thankful that we’re all here?”

“I’ve already done that, I want to know what the hell is going on,” He gently pushed Klaus to the side and resumed walking toward Vanya, but let out a sigh of frustration as his path was blocked again. “Why won’t you get out of my way?”

Allison shared a look with the both of them, then shook her head slightly at Klaus. “Just...You should probably stay over there, in case Vanya wakes up,” he wrung his hands, an action most likely caused in equal parts by anxiety and withdrawal. “I don’t think she’ll be very happy to see you,” he gave a sympathetic smile and shrug.

Luther let out another huff, “Fine. But we need to figure out what to do here before she wakes up,” he said before he turned and made his way back to where Five was standing.

Five pinched the bridge of his nose. Luther was right. Annoying, but right. The moon was shining softly through the windows and the theatre was in tact, that was enough to tell him that they hadn’t traveled too far forward, or too far back. Before he could consider many alternatives, Diego came back into the theatre and made his way hurriedly toward the stage. He gripped a newspaper in his hands tightly, “Uhh, guys, we’re still on the same day.”

Five ripped the paper out of his hands to survey the cover, much to his brothers annoyance. The paper was exactly the same as the one he had seen earlier that day. Or, earlier this day, he supposed. He would need time to determine what this meant about their current situation, and even more time to figure out what to do about it, but right now he needed to take care of two urgent matters: Vanya and The Commission. Both of them posed an equal threat at the moment. They needed to get somewhere safe, somewhere they knew well, somewhere they would have the upper hand, so they could deal with either or both problems. They needed to get back to the academy. “Was the car out there?”

“Exactly where we left it.”

He wasted no time getting a move on, which in this case happened to be a very slow move. Any quick movement made his head pound, so he steadily made his way to the staircase on the side of the stage, ignoring the sounds of confusion from his siblings as he made his way to the aisles. Klaus was the first to follow, stating his eagerness to get home. Luther tried to pick up Vanya, but was shoved away forcefully by Diego, who stood over her sleeping form like a knight protecting a damsel. Five would have rolled his eyes at the idiocy had it not hurt too much to do so. 

“Don’t you dare,” Diego growled, hand hovering slightly above a knife strapped to his chest, as if he would have the bravery to truly do anything with it.

“I’m the only one strong enough to carry her all the way out there and you know it,” Luther clenched his fist in a mirror image of his brother’s own mock confidence.

Diego stood to the side and pulled out a knife, then gestured for Luther to pick her up. He kept a watchful, glaring eye on his brother as they both made their way down the stairs, joining Five in his resumed walk to the car. The walk was quiet, but they all quickly began bickering again once they actually got to the car and realized how little space they had. They settled for Diego in the driver’s seat with his largest brother practically curled into a ball next to him. The other three sat in the backseat with the sleeping fourth draped across their laps. The ride was also silent, which granted Five some merciful rest for his pounding headache. He was exhausted to his core, and he would have fallen asleep, had his head not felt like it was being crushed very, very slowly. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

He grunted with pain when his head was bounced against the seat as the car came to an abrupt stop. One by one, they filed out of the car, with some awkward scooching added in to allow them to get out from under Vanya. Five took the lead as they entered the house through the unlocked back door. He mentally cursed a mystery sibling for leaving it unlocked, then he revised that thought and cursed Klaus, because he was the most logical choice for making a simple, stupid mistake like that. As he stepped into the kitchen, he squinted against the bright ceiling light, then came to an abrupt stop as he saw someone sitting at their dining table. A person. Sitting at their dining table. Someone who was not one of the angry siblings behind him, grumbling about having their path blocked by his shocked form. Someone eating cereal and looking equally as surprised as he was.

He reached to his hip before he realized he wasn’t the one who had the gun. Which one of them had picked it up as they were leaving the theatre? He hoped that whichever one it was had enough sense to be on guard, but also enough sense not to kill this stranger immediately. He gently stepped to the side to allow his siblings to pile into the room, muttering a quick, “Nobody freak out,” as they did so.

The person at the table, a portly young man, very tightly gripped his bowl of Cheerios. It was hard to see his eyes behind the mop of curly brown hair that covered his pale face, and presumably equally as hard to see out, but he sat frozen with fear, still slightly leaned over his bowl. Most curiously of all, he was wearing one of their old school uniforms. Five stepped forward and decided to take control of the situation, as he often did.

“Are you with The Commission?” He asked, glancing to the side to be sure his siblings were ready for a fight. Diego had already taken out two of his knives, Allison had already pulled out the pistol, and Klaus had already slipped halfway out the door, ready to run. Luther stood rigidly in the center of them, sending terrified glances between the stranger, his siblings, and the sleeping form in his arms, obviously the most vulnerable. Five stepped in front of him to provide some protection.

The man at the table sat upright, giving a shocked gasp as he did so. When he spoke, his voice was high pitched and scratchy, “What the fuck do you know about The Commission?” Now that his hair had moved, Five could see he looked absolutely terrified. There was no way this man worked for them. 

He motioned for his siblings to stand down. They relaxed only slightly. The stranger was no threat, but it was clear he knew something. Five had no time to deal with bullshit, his head hurt too much for posturing, so instead he simply walked forward and sat down at the table, directly across from the terrified stranger. He was shaking like a leaf, “What’s your name?” Five asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose, a small attempt to alleviate the pain.

The stranger hesitated, surveying the scene before him, and apparently weighing his options. He didn’t relax in the slightest as he spoke, “Carson Hargreeves. Who are you?”

Five froze. He had expected a lot out of the jump. He had expected to end up dead, or in a wasteland, or staring down the barrel of a Commission gun. He had considered each of these options and more, he had spent the entire drive over here mapping out mental battle plans for various possibilities, but he hadn’t truly considered something like this happening. He was lost for words, and his head hurt too much to find them. “Explain,” he said simply as he leaned forward, laying face down on the table. It was a vulnerable position, but he couldn’t give a shit less what happened at the moment. He just needed to rest, perplexing strangers be damned.

Silence dragged on for a few long moments before he heard Diego speak out, “He said explain!” The table shook when he exclaimed, jostling Five’s head as what was presumably a knife landed in the table near him. He still didn’t care to look up. “What the hell are you doing in our house?”

Carson scoffed, “your house?” he spoke with anger, but his voice grew more restrained as he seemed to remember his circumstance, “My name is Carson Hargreeves, I live here. I don’t know what you want me to explain!”

Another thunk at the table. “Elaborate.”

It would seem he couldn’t control his temper, “Wow, what a way with words, you make me quiver with your Shakespearean beauty. I don’t owe you an elaboration on shit.”

Five looked up just in time to see Diego rush forward and grab him by the collar, “Tell me what you’re doing in our goddamn house before I put you through this fucking table,” Carson was apparently all talk, because he started tearing up at the confrontation. Diego made a noise of disgust and let him fall back down into his chair.

Suddenly, Klaus stepped forward, apparently having gained some bravery at the sight of the other man losing some. “Maybe you’re not asking the right question,” he glared at his brother, “Carson, why do you live in this house? How did you get here?” He spoke gently as he casually slid into a chair at the table. He waved his hand and rolled his eyes at an empty space next to him. 

After some sniffling, he took a deep breath, centered himself, and began to give the explanation they had been waiting for, “I grew up here. I’m sure you’ve heard of me, or more likely my teammates, but we’re called The Umbrella Academy. We were all born on October 1st, 1989, and we were adopted by a man named Reginald Hargreeves. We used to fight crime and shit. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth! Look me up if you don’t believe it.” It was not the explanation they had been hoping for.

Five froze for the second time that night. He had very briefly considered this outcome, only watched it fly by as a passing thought, and he hadn’t given it the time of day, because it shouldn’t have been possible. There was no fucking way. He didn’t want to believe it, but the more he thought about the situation, the more probable it seemed. Without saying a word, he stood up from the table, and slowly began making his way to the living room. He motioned for Luther to follow him. They may as well give their sister a place to lay as he sought confirmation. Carson stood up to follow, and was flanked on both sides by his siblings, held at knifepoint on his right, followed by a chatty Klaus on the left. Both were probably equally as terrible to experience. He took a deep breath before he rounded the corner, trying to calm the pounding in his head before he faced what he already suspected was there.

As he saw the painting on the wall, it made perfect sense. The fact that they landed on the same date, yet there was no Commission to be found. The severity of his symptoms, and the fact that ever since they landed his skin had been crawling with a distinct feeling of wrongness. 

There, on the wall to his left, hung a hand painted family portrait. The kids in it stared back at him through their masks as they stood rigidly in their academy uniforms. Reginald stood over them, the expression on his face displaying a disappointment that contrasted the pride in his posture. There were twelve children in the painting. None of them were his siblings.

If time travel were to be compared to driving a car, with leaps in time being forward and reverse, Five had put the pedal to the metal and flipped the car over the cliffside. He toned out the confused whispering, then muttering, then yelling, of his siblings, as he made his way over to the couch and sat down. He looked at Vanya, who slept on the couch opposite of him, and in some way felt thankful that this was the outcome. It was completely unknown territory, but at least here there was no fear of her fate. It was a clean slate. Well, no, that wasn’t true. It was a filthy slate picked up out of the dumpster, only lightly dusted off before being handed back to them, but it was a slate nonetheless, and it was one more than they previously had. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Diego leaned down in front of him, blocking his field of view. “What fucking time did you jump us to?” He demanded, his voice shaking with the quiet anger that always seemed to replace his fear. 

Five sighed, “I didn’t jump us to a different time. I jumped us to a different place. I think...no, I know,” he sighed, resigned to their new fate, “We’re in a parallel world.”


End file.
